One-man Operation
by Merlin of Kensington
Summary: Being Anger incarnate, he has a huge temper, but nothing ticks him off as badly as seeing Riley or his friends treated unfairly. It was an ordinary night; Anger was about to go to bed when he suddenly heard a scream. It turned out to be a problem that led him and Fear into an epic adventure across Dream Productions, Imagination Land and Riley's Long Term Memory.
1. Chapter 1: Don't Be Afraid

**Chapter 1**

Outside the egg-shaped windows of the Headquarters, darkness spread over Riley's mindscape as the girl drifted into sleep.

Anger let out a yawn when he shoved "Long Term Memory Retrieval, Volume 47" back onto the shelf. Since the disastrous episode of the runaway idea, he'd been scorching through mind manuals at night. _I know you care very deeply about Riley._ Joy had told him. _But you should stop losing temper at everything._ Reading was good for controlling temper, they said. So Anger studied the volumes on long term memory and abstract thinking and the Subconscious. These tomes had almost smothered him to death with walls of texts. Anger might have burned the manuals if he hadn't had a very good reason to read them.

 _For Riley._

Anger was about to ascend the ramp to the emotions' sleeping quarter when he glimpsed towards the console. Fear sat there sipping a cup of coffee as Riley's dream began to play. The screen was still misty. Yet, Anger could guess what it would be. _Some trash about not wearing pants, probably._ _Nothing that coward can't handle._

But for a passing instant, Anger thought he'd seen his purple friend quiver. _Is he overworking himself again?_ Anger wondered. Disgust, Fear and he had felt bad about having almost caused Riley to run away. Since then, all three of them had worked extra hard, especially Fear. Fear triple-checked memory orbs every night and studied the mind manuals more than Anger and Disgust combined, _and he was the only one who neither proposed nor supported the idea_. A pang of guilt stabbed at the red emotion's chest.

When Anger was right in front of his bedroom door, he was still thinking about his cowardly friend. _Maybe I should go to Imagination Land and find some kind of gift for him…_

And then he heard it.

"ARGGGGHHHH!"

It was Fear's voice. Anger stumbled to a halt. A flare of fright gripped him. True, Fear was a coward who panicked at many things, but the trashy work of Dream Productions wasn't one of them. Before he noticed, Anger had started to scurry, down the ramp, into the room where the console was. Light flooded across the Headquarters as Riley snapped awoke. "Fear, what the –"

Fear, now curled up into a ball, was trembling on the floor right next to the console – which was glowing purple. Fear was stiff as a board, his eyes wide and staring. For a few seconds, Anger didn't move. He felt the urge to go give the spindly emotion a word of comfort, but before he came up with the word he needed, he heard a tired voice.

"What's going on?"

From the ramp came Joy, Sadness and Disgust. Both Joy and Sadness wore frowns, while the green Disgust was yawning. Anger made himself grumble, "The beanpole did it again!"

"The elephant… was… chasing… its own tail…! And then… there was…!" Fear mumbled nonsensically.

"You idiot! IT WAS JUST A DREAM!" Anger snarled.

Sadness was the first to start forward and help get her purple friend back on his feet. "You don't have to be so mean about it, Anger. Fear is scared."

Deep down, Anger knew it. He should've helped Fear up rather than shouted at him, but he simply couldn't help it. He bit his lips and cursed himself.

"It's alright, everyone." Joy set in with her 'think positive' tone, "It's just a scary dream. All we need to do is to calm Riley down and get her back to sleep." The yellow emotion danced towards the console. With a light tap, she made its purple glow fade away. Moments later, Riley's breathe slowed down, and she went back to sleep. Darkness fell across the mindscape again.

"What's going on with the dream, Fear?" Sadness asked.

Fear shivered. "It… It was…" he muttered awkwardly, as if merely saying 'It' was as scary as seeing the thing itself, but with some efforts, he managed to spit the words out, "It's Jangles! He's… in Riley's dream just now! He's turning her dream into a scary birthday party! With giant broccoli on the birthday cake!"

Disgust gagged. Her brows lowered, "This is disgusting! It's the third time this month that creep appears in Riley's dream."

Joy scowled. "This is strange. Jangles should be locked up in the Subconscious."

"Or maybe the Dream Productions is trying to make Riley have nightmares again? They often do that." Sadness suggested.

Hearing that caused embers to flicker on Anger's head. "Those no-good dream producers! So they're finally bored of giving Riley trashy dreams, and go for giving her nightmares!?" This is intolerable. Anger's temper could be triggered by many things, but the worst was to know that Riley was being treated unfairly. And then he took a glance at Fear: The scrawny, purple emotion was still trembling, his eyes wandering aimlessly as if he was scared that Jangles the clown may jump in from the windows at any moment. Seeing Fear so frightened made Anger even angrier. He wouldn't allow himself to say this out loud, however.

"Easy, Anger." Joy said, "Maybe we will go talk to the crew at Dream Productions someday…"

Anger raised his red, stubby hand and broke in, " _I_ will go and talk to them, NOW!" With that, he stomped towards the projector and lowered the recall tube. That was how Joy and Sadness left the Headquarters last time. After the incident, the emotions had learned how to use the tube to leave and come back to the Headquarters at will. "I'll be back before Riley wakes up."

"Hey, control your temper!" Joy urged, "We talked about this!"

"NOOOOO!" Fear screamed. He hurtled forward and tried to drag his red friend back. "Don't go! Jangles is… out there in the Mind World! What if… you get locked up in the Subconscious!? What if… you trip and fall into the Memory Dump? What if you're struck by a meteor?"

Disgust's green eyes rolled. "There's no meteor in the Mind World."

Anger looked back at Fear. The sickly, purple emotion was quivering like a leaf. There was a touch of wetness at the corners of his purple eyes. _Is he crying?_ He thought. Anger used to regard crying with disdain, but now… _People cry when they're treated unfairly._ And Anger was the emotion who ensured fairness. His friend's tears only meant that he must do something.

Anger squirmed as he shook off Fear's hands. It was when Disgust stepped forward. "If you really are going, I want to come along. I bet you're going to ruin the mission with that temper of yours. You'll need someone capable of staying cool."

It annoyed Anger. He didn't like being told that he needed someone. He ignored his green friend and flatly said, "This is a one-man operation. I'll go. ALONE." With that, he stepped on the button. The valves opened. At the next moment, the red emotion found himself sucked upwards.

"NOOOOO!"

Fear jumped into the recall tube after his hotheaded friend.

When the valves closed after the purple emotion, Joy, Sadness and Disgust were left in there, staring in shock.

"They're gone. I'll miss them. They're great friends." Sadness lamented.

"They'll be fine. We've been through worse!" Joy tried to cheer her up. "I only hope they'll be back before Riley wakes up. She needs all five of us."

"Don't worry." A smiling Disgust assured them. "I know what to do."

#

Anger felt as though a hook on his forehead had been suddenly jerked forward. His feet left the floor of the Headquarters; He could feel himself speeding forwards in a howl of wind and swirling colors. Ahead, Anger saw Riley's Mind World. It was now a shade of purple-grey dappled with light. He'd been through this before. But even now, it sickened him. For a long while, he felt his stomach lurching so badly and consciousness dissolving that he thought he was going to fade out of existence. He remembered Riley, Joy, Sadness, Disgust, and then –

The recall tube spat Anger out and slammed him onto the ground. The red, stout emotion opened his windswept eyes and looked up, seeing the memory shelves that towered over him. Then he knew that he'd arrived in Riley's Long Term Memory. As he moved his gaze further, he could see the golden rays cast onto the dark sky of the Mind World. He knew those rays were emitted by Dream Productions.

It was chilly. As Anger gave a shiver and got back on his feet, he heard a scream. Before he could react, the recall tube spat Fear out. The falling Fear hit Anger in the face with a heavy thud, knocking him back to the ground.

Anger groaned in pain, and saw that Fear was on him. The purple emotion was also groaning, his single strand of hair dangling and his sweater vest frazzled. This made Anger's head sizzled with embers. "GET OFF OF ME!"

Jumpily, Fear disentangled himself from the red emotion, got to his feet, and offered his hand to his friend. "I'm sorry, Anger! Are you hurt!? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to –"

"YOU IDIOT!" Anger cut him off and picked himself up. He wasn't happy with his purple friend coming along. _NOT AT ALL._ In Anger's eyes, Fear looked tired and, above all, weak. There were deep purple shadows beneath Fear's eyes, and the spindly emotion's arms were as thin as wires. _This isn't a job for a weakling like him._ So Anger yelled, "Didn't I say that this is a one-man operation!?"

Fear's lips trembled. He remained silent for a few seconds. Then suddenly, his pale face hardened and he shouted back, "I'm in charge of ensuring Riley's and your safety! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out here!? There're at least seventy-two things we should be scared of right now! I'm so worried about you! Do you ever think about your friends' feeling when you jump into action!?"

Anger couldn't think of a reply to this, so he was left speechless. The hardness in Fear's eyes faded quickly and the purple emotion soon returned to looking around. Anger wondered if Fear was frightened by the seventy-two things he could think of, or if Fear was just trying to distract himself from Anger, whom he'd shouted at just now – To shout back at the red emotion was probably no less scary to Fear than meteors.

Finally, it was Anger who tried to break the silence. "Hey, Fear… I…"

A sound of ringing broke him off. Anger reached into his pocket and found his cellphone. It was a red trinket, with a silvery screen that now displayed the text 'Disgust Calling'. Anger remembered it: A week ago, Riley had been socializing with the cool girls in her class and daydreaming about buying a cellphone. On the next day, Disgust returned to the Headquarters to give cellphones to her friends. The green emotion said she found the trinkets in Imagination Land and babbled something about how cellphones would make Riley's social life fabulous. Anger had ignored what she said, but kept the gift.

Wondering what Disgust was calling for, the red emotion pressed 'Accept Call', and there came Disgust's voice, "Hey, Anger, is Fear with you?"

It startled Fear. Anger frowned, "Yes, he's right here. What's this? I said this is a one-man operation."

"Sure," Disgust said. He could feel her rolling her eyes on the other side of the phone. "Well, the thing is... Since Fear is not in the Headquarters, Joy asks me to do the dream duty. I'm watching Riley's dream right now. I'm telling you: That Jangles creep is just disgusting. I've never seen a birthday party with that abomination he calls a cake, and the room's décor is so tacky. The whole thing is a plain disaster. And look at those pants he wears! Talk about some fashion sense –"

"Get to the point!" Anger roared into the phone. "What're you calling for!?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I sort of went off the track." Disgust admitted, "Joy is worried that you guys may be having too much fun in your trip and forget to go back to the Headquarters before Riley wakes up. She wants me to keep an eye on you. And before you start burning, I'd like to remind you that Riley needs all five of us once she wakes up. So accept that I'll be calling you again and again tonight to keep track of what you're doing."

Anger thought for a short while. He hated to admit it, but he agreed that his green friend had a point. He declared, "Okay."

"Fabulous," said Disgust. It was their last exchange before he hung up.

Fear was standing behind his red friend and he was still shuddering. Anger knew at a glance that the coward was scared.

"I'm going to Dream Productions." Anger announced and put his phone back to his pocket. "If you're too scared to come along, go find yourself a recall tube and return to the Headquarters."

Fear didn't speak and regarded him with a begging look. But there was the only one thing on Anger's mind now.

 _For Riley._

Anger ignored his purple friend and set off across the maze of shelves of memory orbs. Both sides of his path were walled with the glowing marbles on which moments from Riley's life were playing. Several blue, green, red and purple were spotted amidst chasms of yellow orbs, though he could also catch glimpses of multicolored orbs – Riley had been having those since the runaway episode. It would've been easy to get lost in here had he not seen the rays from Dream Productions. After about fifteen minutes, an exit swam into view. Beyond it, Anger could make out the shining shape of Dream Productions.

At that moment, Anger looked back knowingly, and saw Fear not far behind him.

"So you want to come along, after all, beanpole?" Anger asked.

Fear's eyes jumped around. He staggered forward. Anger could see his hands shaking. With a barely audible voice, Fear muttered, "I… I want to come along with you. My job is to keep Riley and my… friends safe, remember?"

 _But it looks like he's the one who needs somebody to keep him safe._

Anger sighed. He looked around. The two of them were alone in here. _Nobody is going to see it._ Then slowly, Anger reached out his red, stubby hand and grasped Fear's purple, scrawny one. Holding a hand felt warm, he discovered. Fear seemed to feel the same too: After a few seconds, the shaking in his hand died down. A weak smile appeared on his face.

"Don't be afraid." Anger told him.

Fear replied with a meek nod.

The two emotions didn't speak as they walked towards Dream Productions while holding each other's hand.

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2: The Sorrow of Sir Anger

**Chapter 2**

With Anger in the lead, the two emotions hurried to Dream Productions, following the path lit by multicolored spotlights. Anger could hear the sounds of hundreds of jellybean-shaped mind people moving around, chating and laughing and singing. The atmosphere was almost infectious; Anger made an excited grin when they passed the promotion banner for an upcoming dream titled 'Out of My Way!'. It was a red banner that showed a hockey game where Riley knocked down her opponent. He'd love to see this dream.

"I am glad they're finally making that. Riley could use more aggression in hockey." Anger commented.

Fear didn't seem to share his friend's delight. "Won't that be… dangerous? She can get her neck broken and end up paralyzed for the rest of her life!"

Anger was no longer holding hands with Fear. He preferred it this way. There were now eyes all around them. He didn't want to be seen holding hands with another guy. Since he'd let go of Anger's hand, the purple emotion made peeks at his red friend, but he was calm. Anger had seen no more shaking. To him, it was a comfort.

Together, Anger and Fear explored the complex, navigating their way through theaters after theaters. Recalling what Joy had told him about her adventure in Dream Productions, Anger soon figured out where the Riley's dream was being filmed and arrived at the studio.

The film studio was walled and floored with wires, equipment and moving crew. Anger's eyes followed the spotlights, which were shining onto the film set ahead. There, an actor dressed like Jangles the clown was presenting the broccoli birthday cake towards the camera. Anger knew that the camera had a reality distortion filter: As he peered upward to see the giant monitor that broadcast Riley's dream, he found that Riley was seeing the real Jangles present her the disgusting broccoli cake. Anger's eyes narrowed and filled with contempt. Fear squealed at the sight of the clown.

 _How dare they produce garbage like this!_ Anger thought and marched forwards.

The director was not a noticeable person. Like every other resident of Riley's mind, she was shaped like a jellybean. She and her crew had a look of boredom to them. While the actor who played Jangles danced in front of the camera, their eyes were wandering. Some yawned. None looked really passionate about what they were filming.

Anger strode towards the director. "Hey, you!"

Fear followed him silently. The director turned to face the red emotion, still with a dull look on her face. "This place is 'staff only'."

Anger ignored her. "Screw this! I'm from the Headquarters! I want you people to stop making these clown dreams! Riley isn't going to have good night sleeps with dreams like this!"

The crew reacted to his protest with indifference. The director replied, "There isn't anything we can do, my red friend. Last month, Riley saw a clown at the carnival, remember? That little episode reactivated her old memory of Jangles the clown. That old memory orb keeps springing up when the screenwriters try to come up with new scripts, and we have to film what the scripts say."

Fear stepped forward and tried to negotiate, "If that is the case, can we rewrite the script or something, madam?"

"No," the director flatly rejected the idea. "This place is 'staff only'. Don't treat it as your playground simply because your yellow and blue friends did. Get out of here before we call the security."

Embers sizzled on Anger's head. He wanted to shout back or dare them to call the security. As if sensing that Anger was about to erupt, Fear pulled him back and whispered, "We should back down. Remember what Joy and Sadness said about the security guards? They're going to –" He shivered. "Lock us up in the Subconscious. The real Jangles is in there!"

Anger glanced back at his friend. _He's terrified at the mere mention of Jangles._ He noticed. He didn't want to have the security called here and now: To confront them like this most likely meant being locked up in the Subconscious. It would be dangerous for Fear.

With that, Anger decided to back down and left the set with his purple friend.

When they were outside and the door closed behind them, Fear raised the question, "… What should we do now?"

A feeling of excitement rose in Anger. He'd spent weeks reading mind manuals. Of course he knew what to do. _It's all about helping Riley to overcome her fear of Jangles. If she's no longer afraid of Jangles, then she won't be having nightmares, no matter how many mind people show up in her dreams dressed as that freak._ Anger smiled slyly. "We'll alter the dream, and make it… a little more interesting."

Fear cringed. "… Is it safe?"

"Oh, it is 100% safe." Anger assured him.

Anger led Fear to sneak through the bustling complex, to the back of the film studio – It was the storage. As soon as they slipped inside, Anger flicked on the light, and right in front of them was a full room of costumes and props, stuffed together in hills of boxes and chasms of shelves. Fear could only stare at the place with his jaws dropped. Leading the way, Anger said, "Let's go find something useful."

Anger and Fear scrambled around, searching the storage. It was a huge place with costumes and props for all kinds of characters – They'd found pirate hats and ships, ninja cloaks and throwing stars, aliens' flying saucers, and much more. That made Anger wonder why he'd never seen much diversity in Riley's dreams. Her dreams were mostly dreamy versions of her daily life, or maybe Rainbow Unicorn's concerts. In Anger's opinion, both were very lame compared to what could be done using these costumes and props.

During the search, Fear had even dug out two pink kitten costumes and suggested, "Why don't we dress up as kittens and appear in Riley's dream? Kittens are cute. Cute means safe. Safe means not scary!" He reasoned. But the idea of dressing as a pink kitten made Anger cringe. The red emotion dismissed the suggestion.

"AHA!" Anger exclaimed when he finally unearthed a box with something he liked. In there, he found a medieval armor made of plastic, finished with a rubber sword, a shield and a helm. It even came with a horse costume.

Fear turned to look. "That's a… knight costume? What're you having in mind?"

A bout of inspiration hit Anger. He beamed devilishly, "Oh, nothing. Just the best idea ever. Listen, we'll turn Riley's nightmare into a great dream. We're going to tell an epic fantasy story about the gallant _Sir_ Anger, and how he comes to rescue Riley from the evil clown! In the story, Sir Anger will beat up Jangles in front of Riley. Then she'll realize that this wimp is nothing to be scared of!" He put on the helm and swung the rubber sword around. "Ta-da!"

"We're going to… fight!?" Fear gasped, "It doesn't sound safe."

"Oh, don't worry. It'll be me who does the fighting." Anger asserted. He knew that his cowardly friend had never liked fighting, or anything that could lead to injuries. He quickly put on the plastic armor, and handed the horse costume to his friend. "Sir Anger will need a steed. Come on. Put this on."

Fear frowned when he received his costume.

When the two sneaked back to the studio, the film crew were having Jangles play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, except that the 'donkey' was a dog split in half, with its innards – which looked like generic ham – exposed. The two emotions had put on their costumes. Anger was in his plastic armor, wielding his rubber sword, shield and helm. He rode on the shoulders of Fear, who wore the horse's head. Fear's legs were shaking. Anger wasn't sure if it was out of fright, or if he was too heavy for the beanpole, but it was too late to back down now.

"Listen, we'll send that clown crying for his mom!" Anger instructed.

Fear seemed hesitant. "But… what if we are the ones who're beaten up instead?"

Anger gave his cowardly friend a pat in the shoulder. "Don't worry. I get this."

With that, Fear's shaking faded. And they marched ahead.

The actor who played Jangles cackled while pinning the tail onto the dog's eye. On the monitor above, Anger could see it: In her dream, Riley was seeing the real Jangles give an evil laughter that made Anger's chest tighten. His heart skipped. _For Riley._ And he felt braver.

"Ride like the wind, Freddie!" Anger cried.

Fear appeared to instinctively know what to do. He dashed towards the film set, while on his shoulders, his red friend was swinging his rubber sword around. "Who's Freddie?"

"Nobody. Just a name that sprang into my mind."

When the two were in the camera, all of the crew were staring and looking at each other, "We have this in the script?" Ignoring the crew's whispers, Anger peered up at the giant monitor. Thanks to the reality distortion filter, Riley was seeing a tall, buff knight clad in a silvery armor and riding a white steed with golden mane, rather than two of her emotions with costumes and props made of plastic and rubber.

His confidence rising, Anger pointed his blade at the actor who played Jangles, and announced, "Oh, thou wicked clown, thou shalt be smited!"

Fear chuckled at the line.

Then they edged forward. The actor was frozen in perhaps shock when Anger raised his sword and struck him hard on the head. Being made of rubber, the sword left no cut. But the actor, probably knowing how a person should react to being struck in the head, stared at the camera briefly, and then pretended to be struck down and scream. Anger's eyes drifted to the monitor above. What Riley saw was that the tall, buff Sir Anger hit Jangles so hard the clown tripped and screamed for mercy. After that, the Jangles in the dream shrunk a little and the background turned brighter.

Fear quietly exclaimed, "It's working! Riley is finding the dream less scary!"

"Told you." Anger said. And after that, Anger made battle cries and delivered more blows to the actor. Each of his strikes was preceded by a Fear who seemed to know exactly when to launch himself forward to let Anger's blade reach its target. The two emotions' movements were so synchronized, as though they were one single person. Anger enjoyed it. He thought Fear did, too: The purple emotion was cheering and praising Anger as the red emotion dealt blow after blow - And with each blow, the Jangles in Riley's dream shrunk even further.

Behind the camera, the director and her crew only gawked at the antic with their jaws dropped. The Jangles in the dream soon shrunk to about one foot tall, and Anger knew that they were close to eliminating the nightmare.

"Nice one, Anger!" Fear said loudly.

"We're almost there, Fear!" Anger laughed, "I'm so brilliant!"

At that, the director rose from her seat and scrambled for her script. She took a skim through it, realized something and shouted, "It's the two guys just now! They're trying to alter the dream!"

"Wait, they're not part of the dream?" The actor playing Jangles gasped, picked himself up, and stopped pretending to scream.

The director turned to her crew and commanded, "Call security!"

"Security!?" Fear's eyes widened in fright.

"Hey, watch where you're stepping –" Anger shouted, but his words were cut short as his purple friend, in his distraction, tripped over a wire and fell down. Anger was slammed to the ground, his sword and shield flying from his hands. He immediately gathered himself and looked up. In Riley's dream, the tall, buff Sir Anger and his steed had fallen, while Jangles had stopped screaming. Then the situation changed at once: Jangles regained his size while the fallen knight began to shrink. The whole dream turned into a dark, purplish color, with lightning flashing overhead. Anger bristled, "No, no, no...! Riley, Sir Anger hasn't lost yet! He's going to fight back and win! He's going to –"

The door of the studio banged open as two security guards came. They, too, were jellybean-shaped like other mind people, but taller, wearing police hats and armed with police rods. Fear let out a scream and went stiff. Anger took a glance at the monitor. Now, Riley's dream was an all-out nightmare, with a giant Jangles towering over the fallen, losing Sir Anger. _No!_ Anger thought. _We're close to succeeding!_ His plan had almost succeeded. He didn't want to give up at this point. But when Anger's gaze shifted to the coming guards and the frozen Fear, he made the decision – He threw away his helm, carried Fear in his arms, and ran for the exit.

#

Anger couldn't remember how exactly they managed to escape. He simply kept running and running while carrying Fear, perhaps also having knocked over a few mind people. When he finally slowed down to catch his breathe, they were far outside the walls and glimmers of Dream Productions. Anger looked around nervously. The guards were nowhere to be seen. The two emotions were alone, at the outskirt of Long Term Memory. Seeing that, he put down Fear and rested himself. He crumpled to the ground, and grunted through his panting, "Darn it… Darn it!"

Fear backed away, remained silent, and didn't even peek at his friend.

A ringing sound split the silence. Anger took out his cellphone and saw that Disgust was calling. Soon as he accepted the call, Anger was listening to Disgust's roars, "IF YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO MAKE THINGS WORSE FOR RILEY, CONGRATULATIONS!" She screamed so loud it sent both male emotions flinching. "What the heck are you doing!? Jangles has grown to gigantic size! And –" She let out a shriek, "OH MY GOSH! He's force-feeding the broccoli cake to Riley! THIS IS SO BEYOND GROSS! NO! DON'T DO THIS TO RILEY! ARGGGHHHH!"

Her voice faded, followed by a thump which Anger thought was her cellphone hitting the floor. Disgust must be desperately reaching for her nausea bag right now, Anger figured. Then the two male emotions were left with nothing but a dark, chilly silence.

It took quite a while for Fear to open his mouth. His hands shaking, Fear stuttered, "Anger, I… I… I… I'm… sorry. Please… don't be mad…"

Anger's face remained sullen. _This mission is too tough for a weakling like him._ He brooded. _I shouldn't have brought him with me. He almost got caught and locked up in the Subconscious!_ Anger didn't like this. He wanted his purple friend to return to the safety of the Headquarters. He was thinking about how to put it when he spat out, "You beanpole! I should've known it! It's best if you STAY IN THE HEADQUARTERS AND DO NOTHING!"

Fear stopped talking.

 _It's best if he's safe in the Headquarters. He's best off sitting quietly at the console, reading mind manuals and watching dreams and doing research. That's always been what he's best at, isn't that?_ Anger thought. This was bad. Now Riley's nightmare was getting worse. He must figure out a new plan, or maybe he should find Fear a recall tube back to the Headquarters before that. _Yes, it's best for his safety if I have him back there first…_

"Hey, coward…" When Anger turned to his purple friend again, he found that Fear's eyes were welling with tears.

"I'm… sorry, Anger…" Fear shook and apologized with a muffled voice, as the tears began to flow down his cheeks. The single strand of hair on his head was falling like a withered plant. "I'm… sorry… for being so useless… for being good for nothing but staying in the Headquarters…"

Anger's heart skipped. He realized that his words had been interpreted wrongly. "No, listen! What I meant is…" Anger tried to explain. Before he could reach out his hand for Fear's, Fear had already curled himself into fetal position and broken into tears. Anger went still, having no idea of what to do. He'd had no experience dealing with someone crying.

Now, Riley was having an all-out nightmare and Fear was nothing but sobbing. Anger felt as if all were lost. All of his world seemed to be falling apart, into a bottomless pit of blackness. Into nothing…

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3: A New Feeling

**Chapter 3**

Things couldn't have been worse.

Anger hadn't spoken to Fear after having shouted at him. Fear was withered. He trailed ten paces behind his red friend like a ghost, taking steps that seemed to barely touch the ground. Ideas chased each other around in Anger's head. He'd thought about making goofy faces like Joy would, or making witty remarks like Disgust would. But nothing came through.

 _Darn it_ _… Darn it! Had I picked my words more carefully_ _…_

As if that wasn't enough, a dark cloud was hovering above the Mind World, extinguishing the lights emitted by the mindscape. The golden lights of Dream Productions, the glows of Long Term Memory, and the glimmers of the Personality Islands were snuffed out under its smothering shadow. From his reading of mind manuals, Anger knew what the cloud was: Riley was having a very bad sleep thanks to the nightmare. The cloud was the distress she was feeling. _It'll continue to float over the Mind World for at least a week, keeping Riley exhausted and unable to concentrate._

AND for what felt like hours, Anger heard Fear sniffle. That was the worst part. Finding all these hard to endure, Anger sent a message to Disgust, and asked her what she'd suggest him to do. It felt like a desperate attempt to distract himself.

 _Should I just return to the Headquarters?_

But Anger dreaded returning to the Headquarters. What would happen when morning came, and everyone at the Headquarters knew what he'd done? It was scary to imagine. _Anger, despite having made the vow to get rid of the nightmare, ended up creating a worse nightmare, producing distress that was going to haunt Riley for days and, on top of these, leaving Fear broken and sobbing._ What were Joy and Sadness going to say? And Anger shuddered as he began to imagine all the sarcastic remarks a certain green emotion was going to throw at him.

Then his cellphone rang. Disgust's reply message was simple, "Retreat. Forget about the operation."

 _Forget…_ The word echoed in Anger's mind. _Forget…_

He suddenly thought of something.

Anger led Fear to Long Term Memory. While keeping an eye on the haggard Fear, Anger hurried down the narrow, winding paths of the maze of memory orbs. The labyrinth was silent, but lit by Riley's the glowing marbles that fended both sides of his paths. Fear's face was twisted with confusion, but he didn't ask where his red friend was going and followed quietly. A little way into the maze, Anger began to recognize the memories. He saw memories from the last week, then ones from the week before. The deeper he went, the earlier the memory orbs were, exactly like what the mind manuals had told him. Eventually, after half an hour, Anger reached what he was looking for.

It was a lone purple memory orb resting on the shelf, surrounded by yellow ones.

Anger grabbed the purple orb and replayed it: Last month, Riley had been to a carnival with her new friends at school. She'd had so much fun. In one scene, she was playing water gun game; In another, she was eating cotton candy; When these scenes played, the memory orb glowed yellow. _Look at her… having fun and laughing._ It brought a gentle smile to Anger's face.

But shortly, the memory turned purple – A clown jumped out of nowhere and asked if Riley and her friends 'wanted to play'. Riley shuddered and was taken back. The clown's face was painted white, a white paler than that of a dead man's, yet his lips were of a blood-like red color. To Riley, this man was nothing but creepy.

It was when Anger knew he'd found the right memory orb.

Taking the purple memory orb, Anger wandered off and Fear followed. The purple emotion's face turned into an even more confused look, but he seemed too scared to even speak a word to his friend, let alone asking what the red emotion was doing. He just followed. It didn't take long for Anger to reach the edge of the Memory Dump. He stopped a few paces before the cliffs, and swallowed as he looked down. The Memory Dump was a black, burrowing canyon above which the towering Headquarters and the Personality Islands floated. It was also the place where unwanted memories orbs were disposed of. Knowing what he had to do, Anger waddled forwards, held the purple memory orb high, and tossed it into the dump.

The memory orb made an arc in the air, and disappeared into the canyon's darkness.

Above them, the dark cloud started to shrink before Anger and Fear looked up. Its edge disintegrated. Pieces of black vapor vanished into the air… and then stopped shortly. The cloud still covered half of the Mind World, but Dream Productions was once again shining. Fear stared at the slightly shrunken Cloud of Distress and let out a faint smile.

Anger saw a chance in his friend's fleeting smile. His face softened, "Did you see that, beanpole!? Now that's working! We can still save Riley!"

Fear didn't answer. He glanced at his red friend and remained submissively silent.

It was either now or never, Anger thought. Desperate, he confessed, "… I'm sorry, okay?"

Fear's eyes widened.

"I said I'm sorry!" Anger bellowed. "I know what I said to you was terrible! I didn't mean to say that to you! I was just angry at myself!" He admitted, "You're a very helpful and great… friend! I know I'd always acted like a jerk, but only because I'm too scared to admit that I like Joy and Sadness and Disgust and… you! So forgive me for saying those terrible things, okay!?"

Fear only gaped at his red friend and didn't answer. The two emotions stared at each other in silence for so long, Anger thought his purple friend didn't want to talk. _Darn it…! Darn it! The beanpole doesn't want to talk to me anymore!_ Anger cursed at himself. The mere thought of Fear refusing to talk to him sent a sour feeling to Anger's chest. He felt his eyes growing bitter…

"… You're… apologizing? Anger? Apologizing?"

Suddenly filled with hope, Anger made eye contact with his friend.

Fear looked nothing but surprised. " _Anger_ is apologizing? Am I… hallucinating or something?"

Anger felt excitement surging in him. He flustered, "Yes, I'm apologizing! I'm sorry! I know I'm mean and grumpy and foul-mouthed and –"

"No!" Fear cut him off. "Don't say that about yourself! You're tough and dependable and… a great friend." His face fell. "You're… always willing to stand up for your friends when you think they've been treated unfairly, while I… all I know is to scream and hide and run away. You're… amazing."

Anger had always wondered if he, as an emotion himself, had a Headquarters in his own head. At this moment, one thing Anger was sure about was that if he did have one, his Joy must be having full control of the console right now. Anger threw himself at his purple friend and gave him a big hug. He squeezed his friend's scrawny body so hard that he may have crushed him. "So you're not angry at me for the terrible things I said!"

"Argh… No?" Fear muttered, blushing. "To feel angry is… not something I'm good at."

Anger let go of his friend and jerked awkwardly. He knew that to give someone a big hug was very unlike him. He tried to change the topic, "Then we're back to the operation!" He pointed upward at the now shrunken, but still large, Cloud of Distress. "You see? The cloud has shrunken a little just now! There's a way for us to save Riley from her nightmare! We can fix our royal screw-up!"

Fear looked upward at the Cloud of Distress. "I think so, but… what's your plan, exactly?"

"Listen," Anger started to explain, "Remember what the director at Dream Productions said about why Riley is having the nightmare?"

Fear thought for a moment, and then recited, "Riley is suffering from that because of her memory of encountering a clown at a carnival last month. In theory, it would've made her old memory of Jangles –" He shuddered. "That experience would've reactivated her old memory of Jangles…" A look of realization dawned on his face. "… The memory you've thrown into the Memory Dump just now… is the one where Riley encountered the clown last month!"

"Yes!" Anger cheered, "It's the memory orbs that are causing Riley to dream of Jangles! If we dispose of them, we can stop her from having nightmare!"

"But… the Cloud of Distress is still up there!" Fear frowned. "It looks like disposing of the memory orb last month is not enough. To stop Riley from dreaming of Jangles, we may have to… dump her very memory of him!"

"Yes…" Anger answered calmly. He was looking back at Long Term Memory, an endless swarm of corridors and shelves of memory orbs. "… And that's exactly what I'm planning to do."

"How!? Riley's memory of Jangles was years ago!" Fear screamed, "The memory orb must be buried deep in Long Term! To walk so deep in there and find the orb will probably take… days! How can we return to the Headquarters before morning?"

Anger suggested, "Well, why don't we go down to the elephant lot and rent an elephant?"

Fear scowled at the sarcasm.

"I know what to do." The short emotion made a devious grin.

Leading the way, Anger flitted along the corridors of Long Term Memory while Fear followed. They passed Long Term Memory, then Dream Productions, and eventually came to a tall, pink arch – Imagination Land. It was the area where Riley's daydreams materialized. Anger and Fear could see how imaginative Riley was as they passed the French Fries Forest – a sprawling of French Fries as tall as tress; the Trophy Area – a square of giant, glittering Trophies; and the Cloud Town – a town with houses all built with white, fluffy clouds.

"Riley surely imagines lots of things." Fear commented when they hurried past.

"This is Riley for you," Anger said proudly, "She has a beautiful mind."

Beyond all these areas, the two came to a halt before a polished marble arch, which said ' _Cool Girl Land_ '.

"… 'Cool Girl Land'? Joy didn't mention this place. What does it do?" asked Fear.

Anger took out his cellphone and flashed it in front of his friend. "Remember what our broccoli-hating friend said last week? Riley had been daydreaming a lot about her social life. She's been daydreaming about cellphones, cosmetics and 'cool' stuffs like those. That's how this new area came into existence, and how our broccoli-hating friend got us cellphones."

"But what does this have to do with looking for a memory orb?" Fear raised the question.

"I remember…" Anger stirred his own memories. He had a hard time recalling what Disgust had babbled last week, as he wasn't paying attention back then. But he managed it after a while. "If I remember correctly, Disgust mentioned something, something that can help us…"

Anger and Fear entered the 'Cool Girl Land'. It was a golden, thriving place of shopping streets. As they hurried past, Anger caught glimpses of cellphones, cosmetics, the latest girls' clothes, and other must-have for 'cool guys and girls'. They were all shining behind the glass of the shops that fended both sides of the streets. With his purpose in mind, Anger ignored them, and instead rushed for the deepest part of the area. They were soon reaching it - The ' _Cool Cars Hall of Fame_ '. It was a car showroom, where dozens of sports cars were parked in rows, their sparkles catching Anger's eyes as if waiting to be driven. Anger knew it wouldn't be a few years later until Riley could learn to drive, but that hadn't stop her from imagining them.

"Cool cars! What a great idea!" Fear exclaimed.

"Come on! Hurry! Pick one, and we'll move out!" Anger urged. Quickly, the two rushed for the car nearest to them. It was a bright red sports car with purple stripes. It had two seats and a shape so streamlined it looked as though it was carved by wind. Anger looked at the tag: _Superauto 2000X, with a maximum speed of twice the speed of sound and the ability to run underwater and in space, imagined by Riley Andersen._ Anger blurted, "With this, it'll only take us half an hour to navigate the whole Long Term!" Without a second thought, Anger leaped into the car, held the steering wheel, put his stubby feet onto the pedals, and gestured to his purple friend. "Hop on in!"

Fear climbed into the car, helped his red friend wear his seat belt, put on his own, and was ready.

Right after that, Anger stomped on the pedal, and the car roared with momentum. It was fast, so fast they could feel their backs pressed against their seats when they left the 'Cool Girl Land'. They rushed past the Cloud Town, the Trophy Area and the French Fries Forest. They were soon beyond Imagination Land, Dream Productions, and then they were diving into Long Term Memory, heading towards where Riley's memory of Jangles the clown was hiding.

"Okay, Riley, here we come!" Anger shouted as they drove towards the deepest depth of the Mind World. Far above, the Cloud of Distress was still hovering and casting its shadow across the half of the mindscape. But Anger felt only braver, now that he had Fear by his side.

#

Riley's Long Term Memory was a huge labyrinth.

Cold air breezed past Anger and Fear as the two sped through the maze. The paths were narrow and scrambled. Anger was unable to drive at full speed – It made him scream his only curse word – but it was still much faster than walking, he thought. As the mostly yellow memory orbs rushed past, Fear did some calculation with the help of his own fingers.

"There's a 99% chance that we'll return to the Headquarters on time." Fear said, then frowned. "… But what about that 1%?"

"That 1% is that we'll be late for just a minute or two!" Anger asserted, his heart filled with confidence.

Seeing thousands of memory orbs sped past brought back memories for Anger too. He had caught glimpses of scenes from weeks ago, then the ones from months ago. On those glowing marbles, he saw Riley smiling, laughing, crying, scowling, and screaming. Riley's emotion wasn't the only thing that changed: When they just entered the maze, the Riley in the memory orbs was the one they saw everyday. The deeper they went, the Riley in the memory orbs became younger and smaller and…

Suddenly, he heard a sound of siren from behind them. Anger and Fear looked back in unison. A police car appeared from behind a towering shelf of memory orbs, its light bar flashing blue and red. At the seats were two jellybean-shaped mind people with hats and police rod. They were the security guards they'd met in Dream Productions! The guard who wasn't driving produced a megaphone and announced, "Stop your car at once! You two are under arrest for trying to disturb Riley's dream and discarding a memory orb without authorization! I repeat: Stop your car at once!"

Fear squealed, "No! They're going to lock us up in the Subconscious!"

"Not on my watch!" Anger said. He looked ahead, held the steering wheel tight and told his friend, "Hang on!"

Realizing what his friend was going to do, Fear clutched at his own seat belt nervously.

With full force, Anger stomped on the pedal. He felt as if his back was bulldozed against his seat as their car gained momentum, and they blitzed towards the deepest part of Riley's memory.

The world around them looked like shades of yellow dappled with blue and green and purple and red. They saw Riley when she graduated from elementary. They saw Riley when she was learning about U.S. presidents. They saw Riley when she was having piano lessons. With each successive sight, the Riley in the memory became a little younger. She was eleven. Then she was ten. Then she was nine…

The security guards were still trailing behind them. They wasn't giving up, "I repeat: Stop your car at once!"

"What're we going to do?" Fear screamed.

"Can you remember exactly when exactly Riley met Jangles?" Anger asked, ignoring the siren behind them.

"What!?"

"Just answer!"

"Argh…!" Fear's fingers shook. His eyes lost focus, but he was back quickly. "It was… Riley's third birthday party!"

"This is what I remember, too. But can you remember the exact date and time? I can't." Anger said.

Fear looked hesitant. "I can… I guess, or maybe I can't… or…"

This was irritating. "Give me an exact answer! YES OR NO!" Anger snarled, feverish embers ignited on his head.

For a second, Fear replied with silence. He surveyed Anger, who was shaking, from having to drive with his short arms and legs while coming up with plans. Then Fear seemed to make a swift decision and asserted, "Yes, I can!"

"Good!" Anger praised. He glanced side-way and caught glimpses of a small Riley whom he recognized to be six years old. He went on, "Listen, I have a plan: Once we are in the Long Term Memory area for three-year-old memories, I'll slow down the car. You'll point to where the memory orb of Jangles exactly is. That shouldn't be hard because it must be a purple orb among a sea of yellow ones. Then, you'll take the steering wheel. I'll reach out to grab the orb when you drive past it. Understood?"

It was a dangerous plan, Anger knew. He expected his purple friend to stammer. Yet, it only took Fear a moment to respond, "Yes!"

Anger smiled and drove ahead, while the siren followed them closely like a predator.

In less than half an hour, they were seeing a Riley who was five years old, then one who was four years old, then… "We're here!" Anger exclaimed. The Long Term Memory's narrow, winding path opened to a gigantic canyon. On both sides, tens of thousands of marbles were glowing on the shelves, each a moment from the third year of Riley's life. They, together, wove a sprawling yellow carpet dotted with a few shades of blue, green, purple and red. For a while, Anger and Fear could only stare at the stunning scene.

The siren behind tore Anger back to the operation. He asked, "Where's the Jangles memory!?"

"I remember!" Fear's answer came immediately. He thought for half a second, then pointed at the eleven-o-clock direction. "It should be that way!"

"Are you sure!?" Anger thundered. He glanced at the police car behind them. "We may have one chance only!"

Fear looked into his red friend's eyes. He calmly nodded. "Yes, I am."

Anger steered the car to turn towards where his friend had pointed.

Seconds later, shelves of memory orbs loomed close. Then Fear shot from his seat and pointed, "There it is!"

Glaring at where his friend pointed, Anger saw a purple marble. It rested on a shelf far ahead, at a height barely touchable with his short arm. It was the only purple memory orb there. All the others were yellow. Then without a hint of doubt, Anger took off his seat belt – so did Fear – and let his purple friend take the steering wheel. He himself reached out of the car window. His vision was getting blurred in the wind. And the purple orb was looming closer, closer…

Anger hurled himself forward and grabbed for it.

Next, the purple memory orb was in his hands.

In that split second, Anger looked into the memory orb. There was Riley. She was in a party hat and a yellow princess dress. She was screaming and cringing from a man. It was a creepy man who carried a mallet and had his face painted white. And he was mouthing "Who's the birthday girl!?". Immediately, Anger grinned, knowing that he'd got the right memory.

But Anger's delight didn't last. He must have hurled himself too far forward, he realized. He was falling. He found himself dragged downwards by gravity. He looked down and saw the dull earth of the canyon. He knew he was going to be slammed onto the ground, face-first. At that moment, Anger found his heart hammering against his chest. His limbs went stiff. Was it going to be painful? Would he be caught and locked up in the Subconscious?

He was frozen. He was trembling.

He was scared.

"ANGER!"

At the next instant, all Anger knew was that he was being pulled backwards. When he looked back, Fear had got one hand on the steering wheel. Fear's other hand was on the collar of the red emotion's shirt. Fear hauled Anger back into the car. Then Anger was falling onto Fear with the memory orb. The purple emotion's body let out a squish as he himself got sandwiched between Anger and the cushion of the seat.

But both were then safe in the car.

"Haha!" Fear cheered, "I thought you'd fall off –"

Anger struggled to get up and shouted, "The Wheel! THE WHEEL!" He hurtled himself to the steering wheel, and got hold of it. Then Fear got up. They were about to crash into a shelf of memory orbs ahead. The two screamed as Anger steered the car to turn and – barely avoid the shelf. Then Anger let out a sigh of relief. And he was steadily driving along the path again.

"How's the memory orb!?" Anger snapped, still panting.

Fear held the memory his friend had just grabbed from the shelf. He inspected it, quivered and then answered, "This is the one! I can't possibly forget it! This was how Riley got a fear of clowns!"

For a moment, Anger was so excited that he almost jumped from his seat. "Great!"

"But what're we going to do about the security guards!?" Fear asked and turned back. The siren was still trailing them.

Anger grinned. He had an idea. He knew how to dispose of the memory orb while freeing themselves from the guards. "I have a brilliant idea."

Fear scowled, "Is it safe?"

"Oh, it is 100% safe." Anger assured him.

Fear's eyes only narrowed with doubt.

"Okay," Anger admitted, "It is… 90% safe."

And with that, he drove ahead. Fear didn't oppose it.

#

It'd taken them almost an hour to get out of the labyrinth of Long Term Memory. The Cloud of Distress was still looming far above the Mind World, and ahead of them was a Personality Island. Anger could make out the sloping path that led to it and an outline of its walls and edges, but couldn't tell which island it was. It was dark, with its glimmers now snuffed out by the shadow of the Cloud of Distress. The security guards proved to be strangely persistent. The sound of their siren was still trailing far behind them as Anger drove onto the Personality Island.

Fear looked back at the police car that was following them. "What're we going to do?"

"Just watch. Take off your seat belt." Anger replied. Both of them took off their seat belts. Anger looked ahead. The car was speeding towards the edge of the Personality Island. Then Anger's feet left the pedal, only for him to place the purple memory orb onto it. The orb just fit into the space between the pedal and the base of the seat, and ended up acting as a lock that kept the car accelerating although no foot was at the pedal.

Right after that, Anger seized his purple friend's hand, opened the car door, and jumped off the car along with Fear.

They landed roughly. Anger was the first to crash onto the ground. Fear landed on him. Then they were rolling across the dirt. Anger felt his shirt scratched and hauled and then torn by friction. He was holding onto his purple friend. Fear did the same. Anger thought he may die until they smashed into a wall and came to a stop.

"Oh…" Fear groaned and let out a cough.

"Darn it…" Anger grumbled, hurting all over. He got back on his feet and looked at the direction towards which the car had gone. He couldn't see the car now. He only saw darkness, and tire marks that went all the way to the edge of the Personality Island, where the car must have fallen into the Memory Dump with the Jangles memory.

Anger grinned.

"They've gone this way!"

Anger grabbed Fear, hurtled themselves into the darkness, and hid against a wall. He heard the police car's siren come. Then there was the voice of the two security guards. They were wondering where the two emotions had gone. Anger himself wasn't making any noise, but Fear was shaking from head to toe. He was mumbling, "Not the Subconscious… Not the Subconscious…"

"Shhhh!" Anger tried to hush his friend.

That didn't work. "Not the Subconscious… Not the Subconscious…"

Anger sighed and grasped Fear's hand. His red, stubby fingers tangled with Fear's purple, scrawny ones. He felt warm. He thought Fear feel that too: Quickly, Fear's shaking stopped, and his mumbling went silent. Next, he heard, "Perhaps we should just heard back to Dream Productions and watch a dream." One of the guards proposed to his companion, "I'm feeling sick of chasing these trouble-makers all night already. Look at those tire marks. We can just tell everyone that they've tripped and fallen into the Memory Dump."

"I'll second that." The other guard replied.

Then Anger and Fear were hearing the guards start their vehicle, and the sound of siren grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared. Soon, Anger let go of his friend's hand, waddled out of the shadow, saw no more guard, and sighed in relief. "It's alright now, Fear…!"

Fear threw his arms around his red friend and gave him a big hug.

Anger squirmed with discomfort. "Fear, what the…!?"

His question was swiftly answered. Far above, the Cloud of Distress thundered and rumbled and began to recede. This time, the shrinking didn't stop. The cloud got smaller and smaller until its blackness vaporized into the air. As the Cloud of Distress completely disintegrated, the Mind World regained its lights. The Personality Islands lit up one by one. All around Anger and Fear, golden light swirled and showered onto them. Overhead, an arch with hearts on it lit up to emit a pink-purple glimmer. Anger finally recognized which Personality Island it was – the Friendship Island, the island that fostered friendship.

"Look, Fear!' Anger beamed brightly, "We made it! The cloud is gone! We've saved Riley!"

"Thank you, pal." Fear said, "Thank you, for everything. You're a great friend."

Anger didn't speak for a second. Perhaps it was the effect of the Friendship Island. He was feeling thankful too. As he thought of it, it'd be unfair to his friend if he didn't acknowledge it. "… I should be the one who says thank. You saved me when I was about to fall off the car."

"Don't mention it." Fear replied, still hugging his red friend. "It's my job to keep Riley and my friends safe, remember?"

In his friend's arms, Anger shivered. "… Do you think you can let go?"

Fear did as his friend requested. Then he was looking at his short friend with intrigue. "Speaking of that… I'm still wondering: I caught a glimpse of your face when you fell back into the car. You looked… scared."

"No, I wasn't." Anger denied.

"I know fear too well." Fear teased, "I know what someone looks like when he is scared. The face you made… was the type of face people make when they're about to cry in fright. I think when you were about to fall off the car, you were scared. Very scared."

"I WASN'T!"

Fear didn't push him. "All right. You weren't scared. You surely weren't."

Anger grumbled and felt awkward. He knew it: He was scared back then, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it.

At that moment, Anger heard his phone ring. He almost felt saved. He accepted the call, and heard Disgust's voice, "GOOD GOING, ANGER!" She applauded, "What have you done? The Cloud of Distress is gone! That Jangles creep is gone! Riley's dream has become a calm forest where bunnies are running around! Okay, this dream is still a bit tacky, if you ask me, but… the nightmare is all gone! BRAVO! What have you done?"

"Something brilliant." Anger answered.

"Not bad considering it was something you did, I guess." Disgust sneered. Yet this time, he didn't feel his green friend rolling her eyes on the other side of the phone. "But I'd advise you to hurry back to the Headquarters. Riley will be waking up soon."

"Got it. We're returning."

"Okay," Disgust said pleasantly, "See you guys soon."

When Anger hung up, he was feeling good: The nightmare had ended. Riley was saved, and… he glimpsed at his purple friend, who was smiling with him and cheering for the end of the nightmare. "You heard our green friend. Let's go back."

Fear nodded. But as Anger started towards the exit, Fear didn't follow at once. Instead, the purple emotion reached out his hand shyly. With a red glow on his cheeks, he stuttered, "Hey, Anger, it's… okay if you don't want to, but…" He paused, and made a very deep breath before he requested, "Can we… hold hands on the way back to the Headquarters?"

Anger stopped short and swallowed. He was hesitant. The first thing he did was to look around. They were alone on the Friendship Island. After that, his gaze drifted to the outskirt of Long Term Memory. The whole place was all but deserted.

 _Nobody is going to see it._

Before he noticed, Anger was reaching his hand for his purple friend's. His red, stubby hand met Fear's purple, scrawny one once more, and their fingers intertwined one another. A warm smile bloomed across Fear's face. What happened next was strange and a little scary: The held hands and Fear's smile filled Anger's chest with a stirring he'd never felt before. His heart raced. His face grew burning hot. And for a long while, he couldn't do anything but stare at his friend. He wasn't angry – This stirring didn't give him the urge to shout at or punch someone. What was this new feeling? Was it another weird effect of the Friendship Island?

The two emotions were silent as they strode towards Long Term Memory while holding each other's hand.

To be continued…


	4. Final Chapter: Another Great Day

**Final Chapter**

It had taken them quite a while to find a recall tube. But once they did, Anger soon found himself sucked upwards and soaring far above the mindscape. He was feeling a lot of things. For one, he'd never known that the Headquarters was so beautiful when seen from the outside: It was shining golden beneath the bluish sky of the Mind World. And there was the strange feeling he was having as he held hands with Fear. Anger couldn't help peeking at the purple emotion by his side. Fear was smiling serenely, his eyes closed, as they flew towards the Headquarters together. Anger felt the urge to say something, but at the next moment, they were inside the Headquarters already.

A second passed while Anger felt a brief sickness from the flying. Disgust was there, watching Riley's dream play on the screen. The dream had changed: White, cute bunnies were leaping around in a forest, beneath trees coated with green-grey needles. There were the faint sounds of a stream and chirping of sparrows. _Lame_ _._ It was Anger's first thought. _But it'll probably help calm Riley down_.

"Bravo, Anger…!" Disgust turned around to see her friends. Then she went still, her eyes popped open.

"What!?" Anger snapped. He moved his gaze downwards, and saw what Disgust was staring at – Anger's hand was still locked with Fear's. His face burning, Anger let go of his purple friend's hand and flustered, "It… It wasn't my idea! Fear… Fear said… he's scared of the height so I… he…!"

Disgust thrust her hand up to interrupt him. "No need to explain. I understand."

It was embarrassing. Their mouths tightly shut, Anger and Fear exchanged a 'we're in trouble' look. Anger wondered what Disgust was thinking. The gears of his mind were spinning fast to come up with a plan. But Fear was the first to act. He put his hand to his mouth and made a very fake yawn, "I'm feeling… so sleepy! I must… go to bed now!" And with that, he started towards the ramp to the sleeping quarter.

Anger swallowed – Now what?

"Before you run away like that coward does, I want to ask you something, Anger." Disgust turned back to the screen.

Anger's cheeks were glowing redder. What was she going to ask?

Disgust rested herself against the console. "Was Fear of help in getting rid of the nightmare?"

 _Of course he was!_ Anger almost blurted. _He even saved me!_ Swallowing the stone in his throat, Anger made himself answer with a forced calmness, "Yes, he was. The operation won't have been a success without him."

Disgust graced him with a look of understanding, and spent the next few seconds surveying her red friend. Anger hated that look. It made her seem to know everything on his mind. Once she'd finished observing her friend, Disgust said, "Great. Then I won't be asking Joy to give Fear extra shifts for making me do his dream duty tonight." She paused and glanced at the dream. "I would advise you to go catch some sleep, though. The sun will be rising very soon."

Anger wheeled around and began to march towards the sleeping quarter. But he suddenly remembered something. Anger stopped short and said to his green friend, "By the way… I would like to… thank you. The operation won't… have been as smooth without your support."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Disgust replied smugly.

When Anger scurried for the sleeping quarter, he felt that he was fleeing from Disgust.

On the ramp, Anger found Fear waiting there.

"Hi, Anger." Fear whispered, smiling awkwardly, "Tonight has been… a bit scary, but it was exciting and fun too."

"I… think so." Anger threw back.

Anger remained for several seconds, but Fear didn't do anything. Still wondering what his purple friend was doing, Anger was about to ascend the ramp when Fear spoke at last, "Hey, Anger, I wonder… would you like to go to the Mind World again… with me, tomorrow night? The two of us? We could go watch a dream in Dream Productions or… something."

Then Anger looked back. Fear was blushing heavily. Anger wasn't sure what the purple emotion felt. Fear looked calm. There wasn't any shaking. Whatever Fear was feeling, he wasn't scared. Anger's brows rose. "Aren't you afraid of the meteors out there?"

Fear chuckled, "There's no meteor in the Mind World."

It was a comfort for Anger. "Fine for me, then."

That was their last exchange before they drifted off to their respective bedrooms.

Morning came at last. Sunlight dawned over the Headquarters. When the still yawning Anger and Fear dragged themselves downstairs, they were seeing a grinning and dancing Joy. Sadness was not far behind the yellow emotion, and was morose as usual. Farther away from them, Disgust was in charge at the console as Riley brushed her teeth. Soon as she saw Anger and Fear, Joy threw herself onto them and made a group hug just among the three of them. She cheered, "Haha! You made it! Riley is free from Jangles and the nightmare! Let's party!"

Anger squirmed but accepted the hug, while Fear enjoyed it in silence.

"It's great that Riley is no longer having the nightmare." Sadness lamented, "But that's sad."

Did the blue emotion have to find everything sad? Anger grumbled, "What're you talking about, Sadness? Isn't that purely great!?"

Sadness sighed. "I wondered what is going to happen to Jangles. Now that Riley has forgotten him, is he going to… vanish?"

Anger was taken by surprise. He had never thought about that. He recoiled. "Well… there's nothing to worry about! He'll be locked up into some deeper parts of the Subconscious. And we won't be seeing him again any time soon. That's all."

Sadness frowned, not looking convinced.

By the time Riley had finished brushing her teeth, combing her hair, and having breakfast with Mom and Dad, all five of her emotions were standby at the console. Joy, being their leader, was in the middle, while Sadness stood by the yellow emotion on her right side, along with Disgust. On Joy's left, Anger and Fear stood side-by-side. It was Disgust who suggested that Anger and Fear should be next to each other. Anger had grumbled to Fear that the green emotion was being nosy, but deep down, he was thankful.

Soon, Riley was at the door with her schoolbag. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!"

"Have a nice day, sweetheart!" Dad replied, looking up from his newspaper.

"We love you, honey!" Mom said while taking the utensils into the kitchen.

When Riley stepped outside, the sun was shining onto her gently. The air that breezed through her hair was fresh and cool. The pigeons that fluttered from the roof flew across a blue sky where white clouds were floating. Riley hummed as she walked down the quiet street. It was a lovely morning in San Francisco.

In her excitement, Joy was almost leaping from where she stood. "Are you guys ready?"

"Yeah." Sadness said, smiling.

"Sure. This is going to be a fabulous day." Disgust noted.

"No meteor or quicksand in sight!" Fear added cheerfully.

"Certainly. It will be my pleasure." Anger finished.

"Then we're off to school!" Joy announced and smacked her hand onto the console.

With that, Riley smiled and strode ahead confidently. Anger watched with his purple, spindly friend. They exchanged a fleeting smile. Then Anger was ready to make today another great day for his girl.

Together with Fear.

The End


	5. Afterword

**Afterword**

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for reading, reviewing, following, and favorite-ing my story! This is my very first attempt at fanfiction. Like most of you, I have fallen in love with Inside Out at the moment I walked out of the theater, and eventually decided that I want to weave a story using its beautifully designed characters. The quality of my first attempt isn't bad, I guess.

My first fanfiction revolves around Anger and Fear, my favorite characters from Inside Out. The movie and its related materials portray Anger and Fear as having a close, albeit somewhat love/hate, relationship. This is an ingenious touch, and I am impressed that Pixar has done their research: This is exactly how Anger and Fear should be related.

As a Psychology PhD candidate, I am specialized in the study of brain systems involved in emotions, so I may share some expertise here. Put simply, Anger and Fear are linked to the same spectrum of behavioral response – namely, the ' **acute stress response** '. Both emotions arise in response to dangers, and help the person to engage in behaviors that protect him/her from harm (i.e., Fear prompts the person to hide and flee, while Anger prompts him/her to fight back). Thus, these two emotions are functionally very similar. In fact, neuroscience has shown that Anger and Fear are, for the most part, mediated by the same set of brain structures.

However, the emotional responses of Anger and Fear are also in a sense antagonistic, in that Anger is a response that reflects assertiveness, while Fear reflects a lack of assertiveness (or in more laymen terms, Anger helps the person to reassert his/her dominance, while Fear does more or less the opposite). Therefore, the emotional responses of Anger and Fear are inherently intertwined, but they are also at the opposite ends of the scale of assertiveness. This is translated into the film and related materials as a love-hate relationship between the characters of Anger and Fear. It is also notable that while Anger is personified as a tough guy with a great temper, Fear is incarnated as a nervous guy with low self-esteem (i.e., he is routinely abused by Anger and taunted by Disgust).

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed my story and are not bored by the babbling of a neuropsychology geek. Now that this story is done, I may well be moving on to another piece of fanfiction or reading others' stories. And please don't forget to leave comments in the review section to tell me your thoughts!

Lastly, I would like to say this again: Thanks for reading.

– Merlin of Kensington


End file.
